March Transitions
Change, it's the only thing that's reliable.
It’s been a week of ups and downs, of hardship and friendship. My daughter is about to graduate High School / College and is on her next steps to move out of the house and onwards in her life. My daughter is an incredible person who can hold a conversation on a myriad of topics, she is a renaissance woman. In our discussions about life, changes and future adventures I made it clear that no situation in life, no event is all bad or all good. Some things in life are obviously better than others but even on the worst days, there is something that can be learned, even if it’s learning to be humble.
A great friend and Combat Veteran passed away this week. It’s been a tough loss. Michael Pinheiro and I were close. Having served together in Iraq for a total of 24 months, living together, fighting together and dealing with the hardships that come with combat in a far off land. We’ve seen each others kids grow up and been there for each other in hard times. You can read more about Mike in his obituary.
All living things on this planet will die. Even Christ died. With the joys of life also come the sorrows of loss. Nothing great lasts, even great men like Mike. Nothing horrible lasts, even the pain and grief of his passing. Things change, and change is for the better in most cases.
March was a month of changes. From the weather to the leaves on the trees and my weight and running. As you read on, you’ll hear about the accomplishments on the month and how the last week went. So let’s dive into the monthly numbers!
28FEB2023: Starting Weight: 232.8lbs | 31MAR2023 Ending Weight: 225.4lbs
Monthly Weight loss: 7.4lbs.
My running goals this month was 75.0 miles and I finished 78.75 miles total!
Overall I’m satisfied with the miles and weight loss for the month as I had a few setback, some traveling and time away from a kitchen. Eating on the road takes discipline and planning and sometimes just falls short.
Without getting any running in on Monday, I decided Tuesday would be a Two-a-day starting with my Run Before The Sun track training that starts at 5:15am followed by an evening run. The morning track session felt good and I could tell that running at altitude helped someone. My legs felt loose and I didn’t feel like I was falling behind where I should have been. One of our runners, Nick was incredibly fast and logged additional laps while the rest of us were resting. It’d be nice to be back to that level of fitness!
Overall I logged 3.21 miles with my fastest mile being an 8’06” which felt good.
Approximately 12 hours later I was back to running with the run club at our usual Tuesday meetup. I got in another 3 miles while conducting the route recon for the Scavenger Hunt run I organized the following day. It was an easy run through town that I took my time taking pictures and thinking about the items for the search.
The social afterwards was great with good food and friends. Running with the club is as much social as it is longevity of life and continuing on this fitness journey.
The next day I ran early and logged 3.39 miles to locate all 11 items on the Scavenger Hunt Run. Turns out some of the teams found all the items in about 2-miles, so I’m not sure why I was making a long mess of it. Regardless, all the items were in place and everyone who participated had a great time! Many laughs, smiles and overall a great time finding the items located throughout the Downtown area. I find that I sleep better at night when I can organize events like this that makes people happy. It’s a great thing to see.
I took Thursday off to hang out with my wife as she closed up business and relaxed on the couch. The next morning at 5:15am I’d be on the track putting forth my best effort in the 1-mile test.
Friday morning on the track was to get in a good warmup followed by a 1-mile best effort. The “gold standard” for distance running is to qualify for the Boston Marathon! If you qualify you’re known as a BQ or “Boston Qualifier”, which means you are pretty fast, for a long period of time.
For my age group I would need to maintain a pace of 7’10” for 26.2 miles, and that would just put me on the edge of becoming a BQ. My goal Friday morning was to run 1-mile at the BQ qualifying time.
I have some weird ambition to become a Boston Qualifier, it’s right up there with wanting to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. First things first, I need to log at least 1-mile at the BQ time and than build another 25.2 more after that!
Overall March has been a month of highs and lows from spending time with my family in Florida to losing a close friend. I really attribute my running and my friends, especially from the running community, as the key elements in keeping my physically, mentally and emotionally resilient. For that I am thankful and appreciative.
Tomorrow is April Fools day and I will be getting in a 9-mile run and eating a lot of hills! Stay tuned for April as it will have me running in North Carolina, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Georgia! The adventure continues!